A Storm of Gryphons
by Taganoth Stormrites
Summary: Silver Lupin is finishing her last year at Hogwarts with a newly placed Mark on her arm. Will a certain Potions Master and the new DADA teacher guide her along the outskirts of Darkness? (Will be SS/SL)


Silver awoke to feel the wing protectively slung over her and the massive weight of the gryphon pressing down on her bed. He lay where it dipped down against the wall as he always had, talons curled around one of her pillows and his immense beak propped open by the head board of her cot. She smiled as his snore - a slow whistle - emitted from his bill - the sound that had lulled her to sleep for the last thirteen years. She pushed his wing onto his back once more.  
  
Slipping to the edge of the mattress, she felt for her wand on the bedside table and, finding it stuck in the soil of the potted plant next to her, muttered a slight "Lumos." The light was dim, as she had wanted it to be. No need to wake up her familiar in the process of getting a drink.  
  
Leaning out her open door, she pointed her wand toward the cabinet over the sink. She was glad to be in the room next to the kitchen at night. But, then, of course - she was glad to have a bathroom next to her room too. "Accio - Uncle Remus?"  
  
She realized her mistake as soon as she saw his eyes widen in surprise. He had been holding a coffee mug when he began sliding sideways toward her door. He turned to face her as he was magically dragged toward her. "Good morning, Silver. It's a bit early for you to be up, isn't it?"  
  
She reached out and tugged his arm so that he would stop moving. He held up his steaming cup and smiled. She hadn't expected him to be up so early.. "I think Tags woke me up. He dreams of flying in his sleep, because I always wake in the middle of the night with a few feathers over my head."  
  
"Well," He said, running a hand though his dust-colored hair and pointing to the muggle clock on the wall, "It's One-thirty. Do you want some cocoa?"  
  
"That's cocoa? I should have known you'd be having chocolate in the mornings! Nox.." She drew her wand into her pocket and strode past him. She poured herself a cup of the steamy stuff and snorted. "I suppose I already know what you'll be having for breakfast."  
  
Something hit the floor with an audible thud in the next room, and it groaned. "Pancakes with. chocolate chips.."  
  
Her uncle's eyes lit up brightly and he trudged slowly to the living room. "Ahh, Padfoot.. Join us for some cocoa? It's hot!"  
  
Silver sniggered as she heard the man climb back onto the couch and growl. "No. I haven't slept in a few days."  
  
She met her uncle at the doorway and propped herself against the frame. "Come on, Mister Black.."  
  
She saw a hand stick up from the pile of pillows and blankets. The voice was muffled strongly. "I.. am serious."  
  
"Of course you are. Now I'll get the pancakes while you and Uncle Remus share a cup of cocoa. It's going to be a lovely day.."  
  
Before any replies were mumbled, she swept back into the kitchen and summoned the flour. "Muggle pancakes.. I guess this'll have to do.. Accio milk.. and eggs.."  
  
"You know," rumbled the feathered head that poked out of her room, his ears forward as he allowed himself to stretch his talons out on the kitchen floor, "I think I want some pancakes too."  
  
Suddenly she was alerted by his being awake. He usually left the house - both here and back in Bulgaria - before she got up. "Aren't you going to leave the house soon?"  
  
"Only at daybreak. There aren't as many gryphons here as I thought. I've never had pancakes before, and I'll wager you've never made them like a muggle." He climbed into the kitchen and shook his head, seeing her expression. "Ee-lie, Silver. It doesn't matter, anyway. I hear muggle's food is as good as witch's."  
  
"As you say. But I intend to make it like a witch." She waved her wand and a bowl appeared. A bit of flour poured into the bowl, an egg cracked and landed in the bowl, and milk covered the two ingredients. It mixed itself quickly, and then she grabbed the bowl. Seeing the bag of chocolate chips on the table, she summoned them and poured many in. A large cooking pan sat on the grate over the fire, and she poured batter into it in the shape of four pancakes. Of course, she'd make more, but the pan could hold no more at the time. She pointed her wand at the pan. "Flippendo." All four of the pancakes flipped, and she was surprised to see that they were done on one side.  
  
"You know, one of my friends is supposed to be flying here soon. Hayuk the jesanderi.. ring a bell?"  
  
"I haven't met him.. and what's a jesanderi?"  
  
"'Feather painter,' in the ancient Gryphon tongue. He's the one that makes my wings have those red and black stripes on the tips. Those look done." He reached out and grasped the pan's wooden handle. It wasn't hot, and he hooked a pancake with his talons. "I know these aren't good for me, but.."  
  
"Is he eating my pancakes?"  
  
"No, Uncle Remus.. But he will if you don't come get yours. How many do you want?"  
  
"Four'll be fine."  
  
"Four..? Uncle Remus!"  
  
"Uncle Remus, Uncle Remus.. Moony, I think your niece doesn't know you that well."  
  
"And you two don't know her very well.. Well, I'm going to shove off. There's a gray-feather named Ganeria that Hayuk was going to introduce me to when he arrived.." He pulled the pancake into his beak, and it disappeared an instant later.  
  
"Like it?"  
  
Through squinted eyes, he gryphon-smiled, slinking off into the living room. "Delicious, love. Now, I must be off.."  
  
She watched his tail disappear through the open door, replacing the pancakes she had piled on a China plate with more batter. Suddenly she felt alone. "Taganoth?"  
  
"Yes?" He must have been at the front door, for his voice told that he wasn't in the next room anymore.  
  
"Can.. Can I fly with you this morning?"  
  
A moment passed. She heard the ruffling of blankets and saw Sirius poke his head in the door. "What do you mean? You want to go ride him this morning? Because if you want to ride something, Buckbeak will be more than happy to be of service.."  
  
She shook her head fervently, flipping the contents of the pan. "No, I wouldn't ask to ride him. I'm a gryphon animagus, didn't you know?"  
  
Her uncle choked on something in the next room. Sirius pushed back his wild, black hair. "They. taught you at Durmstrang..?" Seeing her nod, he laughed a spell. "I'll be damned.. Did you hear that, Remus?"  
  
She slapped the last pancakes onto the growing stack and strode towards him. "I'll be going now.."  
  
"Ee-lie, Silver. You've never been one to wait, have you?" She heard Taganoth sigh loudly. "I guess I could introduce you to some of my new acquaintances...."  
  
Remus sounded from behind Sirius. "Now, wait just a minute.."  
  
She glared past her uncle's friend and felt herself begin to transform. Her wings stretched and tucked against her back. She snapped at the two with her beak. "I'm not a child anymore - and Taganoth would never let me come to harm. He hasn't let me sleep alone for the past thirteen years.."  
  
"That's not true.. I missed that time you were off at the World Cup.."  
  
"Shut up, Taganoth. Let's go.." The two men moved from the doorway as she padded into the living room and out into the hallway. The front door was at the end, and she followed the golden gryphon as he slipped out.  
  
"I'll take care of her, Remus!"  
  
******  
  
It must have been two-thirty in the morning when Taganoth finally watched the gentle rise and fall of Silver's chest that meant sleep had taken her. He sighed, for he had realized that she - both the golden-haired human resting across the room from him and the jet-black panther-gryphon that seemed to have been getting sweet on one of his new friends - was no longer a child. The dark eyed broad-wing that had flown the skies joyously with him alone was absolutely no youth, and he doubted that she understood the significance of the dance that she had played out in the clouds with him, oblivious of the awed onlookers that ogled at the two fleeting figures as they rode the horizon and dispelled fog around them with wings spread wide and eyes near closing. The feathers of his chest ruffled and he chuckled to himself, smoothing them down with an absent palm. Ahh, you old tiercel.. She'll be wanting a mate before long..  
  
Not a gryphon, of course. A human, unloving and unkind.. Wild and ignorant.. No such mate he would allow for her. He growled, having thought of Silver's mate like her keeper's friend, who turned into a dog at times. Certainly such a human would be overlooked by her in the future. Who knows? He asked himself silently. She may fall for a gryphon after all.  
  
He turned, stretching and slinking off through her open door. The kitchen smelled of the cooking batter Silver had used to make the disgusting human treat earlier. Seeing a dark shadow jump across the edge of his vision, he jerked his head up and glared. The black dog stood in a corner, watching the flames of a fireplace dance intently. The dog hadn't noticed him yet, so he cleared his throat. "What're you up to this early? Shouldn't you be in bed like your friend?"  
  
The canine's response came as almost a whisper - for Silver's sake, he guessed. "I was just finishing a conversation with a friend of mine. He's concerned about some of the more intelligent creatures helping us defeat Voldemort.."  
  
"And will he ask us for help? Will he come to the gryphons and sway them to fight for his cause?"  
  
"He's asked me to.. ask you to.. pass along that bit."  
  
"Oh, has he now? There's no telling what he believes we'll say. Most of us are against helping humans, but.. Voldemort has taken so many gryphons from our numbers.. Some have no choice but to fight back."  
  
"So.. you'll ask the gryphons?"  
  
"I'll ask my clique, yes.."  
  
Sirius gave him a questioning look before turning back to the fire. "Everything's a bit more difficult for us now that he's back.. My godson.. Harry.. It's been hardest on him.. Since he saw the return.."  
  
"Silver's mentioned it before. But tell me.. Have the centaurs and sphinxes been asked?"  
  
Sirius nodded, seemingly more weary than he had been a moment ago. "They've refused to help us.. Said it would disrupt their lives.. Their traditions.."  
  
"Just as they've done before.. And as we've done before.."  
  
"You say you'll ask your clique.. What's that?"  
  
"It's a group. I believe you humans call that a pack or a herd..? Well, gryphons have a certain circle of friends, and not many others are let in. If I went and asked another clique for help, they'd likely know I was from my clique and tear me limb from limb.. Dark eve, Sirius."  
  
Taganoth made his way to the back door and slipped out.  
  
******  
  
It was dark, and cold when she woke up. And she was moving. Floorboards bumped under her cheek, and she realized that she was on her stomach, tangled in some sort of wire. She opened her eyes and glanced through the crack in the floor.  
  
A train. She was on a train. The realization hit her just as a rough voice called from behind her. Her heart stilled.  
  
"Them gryph'ns is be'er lef' 'lone, I says. Bu' do 'e listen?"  
  
Silver's ears swiveled as she froze at the flooding knowledge that she was in gryphon form. But how she had gotten there was a mystery to her, and it fled her mind as soon as she heard the next man speak.  
  
"Karkaroff's sided with Dumbledore, you know.. I knew he'd never be true to the Dark Lord.."  
  
Her lids drew closed as she constricted her throat and held back the burning tears threatening to fall, and she blinked furiously, as if to let one fall would surely alert the men to her. Karkaroff. Professor Igor had been truthful with his students. He had told them all that he had been a death eater, and he would respect all opinions of him. No one opposed him. The kind man had a knack for knowing what went on in his school, and he had brought Durmstrang through many hostile years. He had admired her for her will to succeed, her agility as a gryphon, and, most of all, her speed. As an animagus she could slice through records set before by the best gryphonic animagi. It hadn't taken long for him to realize her potential, and when he did Igor set her to work as a draft helper. She delighted in aiding him with the plows, as did other students, for he himself carried twice the load any other could. As a Clydesdale animagus, he knew his strength well.  
  
And now he was running. But wasn't that the reason she was going to Hogwarts? She could trust no other like Igor. So she decided to go where there was a man that Igor himself had hinted at trusting. Professor Severus Snape was one to watch, he had said. Tricky bastard, he. But why had Igor so fervently guarded him when one of the exchange students from Hogwarts had whined about the annoying teacher?  
  
The crate next to her slid a bit and pushed her talon forward. Reflexes siezed her, and her palm jumped. A man in the corner lept up and snatched something from the floor a few feet away from her. It jangled and, suddenly, she was on her feet. 


End file.
